Monday, 25 July 2011

Macau Part 2

Family,

And a good evening to you from the headquarters of the Noble House – that’s right, sports fans, the Bull is NOT in Singapore but instead the British outpost of Hong Kong! I’m actually sitting in seat 54H as I type this (that would be 2 rows from the back in case anyone’s curious), and it’s a wee bit cramped. However, as I’ve just finished “Limitless” and am quite inspired (it follows the movie quite closely 97% of the time, so all in all it was very entertaining), and so I wanted to crank out one of the many travel blogs that I’m overdue to deliver. And so, without further ado, let’s begin the slow climb back to even and give you Macau – Part 2.

The Bull and Striker fell right back into their Vegas rhythm on Sunday, pulling off a TWELVE hour sleep. We did manage to finally drag ourselves out of bed, at which point we hopped a cab for the south island of Macau (Taipa) and the newer, more modern section: The Cotai Strip. Our destination? The Venetian, baby…

So here’s the deal – a lot of the Vegas casinos are looking to recreate the Strip here in the East, and the Cotai strip is quickly embracing that. So far there are just 6 or 7 casinos there, but there are many more planned and the ones that are there are HUGE!!!! Case in point – the Venetian. In a word – WOW. Seriously, this place was just GINORMOUS. The report is that it’s 4 times the size of the one in Vegas. Whilst I have no idea about the square footage, I can say that the casino floor goes on FOREVER, to say nothing of the canal shopping district and all the food. And speaking of food, how did Team Taylor start the day? WITH FATBURGER, BABY!!!! That’s right – it was ANOTHER double cheeseburger for the Bull (Muffin Puffin just had the single burger, which was still so GUUUUUUUUUUUUUD…peppy cheekies).

After that, we discovered something truly AMAZING – machine craps! Talk about a BLAST. Here’s the deal – there are 2 dice in the middle, and everyone has a screen that they can tap and bet against. The minimums are LOW ($6 a bet), so I was in HEAVEN. And best of all, everyone has a stopper, so you each take turns “rolling.” When it’s your turn, there is this Valley Girl that comes on the speaker yelling “Push the BUTTON!!! Come on!!!! Push the BUTTON!!!!” Yes, it is REDONKULOUSLY cheesy, but man is it fun. We had a BLAST playing that for well over an hour, at which time we had to cash out (both up, for the record) to take in the feature of the day – Cirque du Soleil’s Zaia.

Zaia is billed as “the grandest show ever in Asia,” and again, whilst I have no idea if that’s true, I can say that it was an EPIC production all around. We had simply INCREDIBLE seats, and it was on par with all the other cirque shows that we’ve seen. And best of all, because we saw the 5 PM matinee, it was HALF OFF!!! WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER, BABY!!!! Seriously – there were some CRAZY stunts and dance scenes, complete with 2 folks on a suspended pole (and NO – it was NOT like Casino Grand Lisboa), trampolines, and all kinds of other foolishness. The biggest thing to note was all the stuff that fell from the sky or came from the back of the theater – it was AWESOME.

After that, it was over to the bar for a bit, where Team Taylor enjoyed “1 for 1” Happy Hour. Now it should be noted that this isn’t the same as “Buy 1 get 1 free,” as this means that you BOTH have to order a drink (and then, once finished, you receive another one). However, a couple of cold Carlsberg’s and a pair of travelers of Macau beer later, and all was right with the world. Also, we looked like kings because we were the ONLY PEOPLE IN THE BAR (as we typically are in Asia). There was a show going on, and these 2 cats could REALLY sing (although it was 100% to track and they were singing stuff from the late 80’s and early 90’s – we even heard the theme from An American Tail! Somewhere…out there…). They even waved to us when we left and thanked us for coming. To be fair, we did clap a lot (I mean, who would NOT clap when Roxette, Depeche Mode, and Cindy Lauper are performed in duet fashion?).

We then hit the “auto-craps” again before decided that we were starving. And since we didn’t feel like making the 5 minute cab ride across the bridge on an empty stomach, we did what any romantic couple on their 5 year anniversary trip should do after midnight – WENT BACK TO FATBURGER, BABY!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAhhhh, yeah…and yes, I DID have another double cheeseburger. After all, I KNOW WHAT HEALTHY IS. Price – think this diet will help me become King of the Hill so that I can join that dude playing music on the rock? Just curious…We then went BACK to the Wynn, where we rocked the slot machine “It’s my Party (and YES, they did play the song during the bonus round) until about 2 in the morning. We then walked home EXHAUSTED and wishing that we’d booked the trip for 1 more day, as we were having an absolute BLAST. It was then back for a final passout on the bed of nails (seriously – they just DO NOT do comfy beds most places over here).

On Monday we rallied about 11, checked out and headed back to the Cotai strip, where we blended in with the locals by having some local Macaunese cuisine – PIZZA AND BURGERS AT HARD ROCK, BABY!!!! We hit the R Bar, which is basically in the lobby of the hotel and was FANTASTIC, and a few final Macau Beers made all right with the world. We then gambled for awhile in the City of Dreams, where Jenny CLEANED UP on some craps whilst I got my teeth kicked in. It should be noted that Jenny won at craps ALL THREE TIMES SHE SAT DOWN, whilst the bull only finished up twice. It should ALSO be noted that Jenny has now started betting WITH THE HOUSE, which put us at odds, especially on Monday. That being said, her winnings more than doubled my losses, which is a) good for Team Taylor as a whole and b) more proof of why casinos keep getting bigger and grander. And I made a quick $300 HKD (so $50 USD) at the Sic Bo table (yes, the “Sing Gow Pai Pai” game that I don’t understand), so in true Vegas fashion, it was a GREAT way to end the trip. We then hopped a cab for the 30 second ride to the airport, up as a couple for the trip and DEFINITELY glad that we visited Macau. And yes, it’s already on the plan to try and have 1 more go at it before we head back stateside.